yesterday\u2019s post<\/a> to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my twitter followers, who herself has far more followers, replied to it, and it started circulating among a more progressive\/woke crowd than is usually the case.<\/p>\nSuffice it to say, they were Not Happy.<\/p>\n
There were, I\u2019d say, four categories of people replying.<\/p>\n
First, those who really did not understand what\u2019s going on here, and seemed to think that people had to work for the government to earn their food stamp benefit, as opposed to being required to be a part of the workforce generally speaking, or do something productive with their time if not.<\/p>\n
Second, those who said that people would lose their benefits not because of an unwillingness to work (for pay or otherwise) but because it was too difficult to comply with the documentation requirements.\u00a0 Quite honestly, these issues looked like implementation bugs more than a longstanding issue, let alone a design intended to rip benefits out of people\u2019s hands.\u00a0 But to the extent they exist, yes, they need to be fixed; the general tenor of this category of replies, though, most generously stated and shorn of profanity, was that it isn\u2019t possible to establish a system in which people are required to document their productively-spent time without some people falling through the cracks, so we should simply accept giving benefits to those who don\u2019t even try to work, as an unavoidable consequence that\u2019s a reasonable trade-off for insuring those in need receive help.<\/p>\n
Third, those who say that, no matter what, people should be able to have food, and, indeed, have their basic needs met by the government without any preconditions at all.\u00a0 I was told I\u2019m an evil Catholic for saying otherwise.<\/p>\n
Fourth, those who just name-called (apparently I\u2019m ugly) and spouted profanity without any useful comments.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also the case that there are those who insist that every poor person is always trying to better themselves, so that they clearly don\u2019t need any push in the form of work requirements, because these are humiliating, difficult to comply with, and a waste of time for the person involved as well as for the government, in terms of administrative costs.\u00a0 I don\u2019t buy that.\u00a0 I agree that the numbers are small \u2014 700,000 Americans stand to be cut off from food stamps if they don\u2019t find\/document working (with or without pay) for 20 hours per week, because they are between the ages of 18 \u2013 59, not at school, not responsible for anyone\u2019s care, and don\u2019t have a doctor\u2019s note that they\u2019re incapable of working.<\/p>\n
But I mentioned the other day reading a book titled Pressure Cooker<\/em>, profiling 9 women\/mothers and their experiences with food and cooking for their family, especially poor women and the world of food stamp shopping.\u00a0 One of those was a woman who was married to her high school sweetheart, both of whom worked at a fast food restaurant \u2014 the classic \u201cworking poor.\u201d\u00a0 Even though the book is nominally about cooking, the authors spend a section on an incident in which the mother tries to navigate through waiting for a brother who\u2019s supposed to give her a ride to her mother\u2019s (to do laundry) and then to work; he\u2019s running late and it causes problems.\u00a0 Another woman profiled, however, who also works at a fast food restaurant and has to manage her family\u2019s household needs at the same time, is married to a husband who is unemployed, and appears to have been unemployed for quite some time, and remains unemployed for the duration of the multi-year interviewing period.\u00a0 (Maybe he\u2019s more accurately a \u201cstay-at-home dad\u201d for the couple\u2019s children, but if so, the author\u2019s don\u2019t credit him with that work; he generally is only featured as a worthless extra burden.)<\/p>\nAnd I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right to shrug off these \u201cundeserving poor\u201d (or maybe the \u201cdeserving poor\u201d \u2013 I never could quite figure out if the \u201cdeserving\u201d referred to \u201cdeserving of help\u201d or \u201cdeserving of their condition\u201d) for another reason, too:\u00a0 living a life entirely disconnected from the world of work is a problem for the individuals themselves.\u00a0 In the long run, a life without any productive or caregiving activity is simply not a good life, whether the substitutes are playing video games in Mom and Dad\u2019s basement or drinking beer and watching TV on the couch of whoever\u2019s home you\u2019re crashing at for the time being.\u00a0 (Final reminder:\u00a0 the homeless are deemed incapable of work, so that\u2019s another story altogether.)<\/p>\n
But what about the broader assertion \u2014 not that heartless people are deliberately constructing a system that\u2019s too burdensome for the poor to navigate, but that Jesus says that everyone should be fed, regardless of whether they are willing to do whatever productive work they may be capable of?<\/p>\n
Of course, there was no government social welfare system in the first century AD.\u00a0 And the general Biblical admonitions about the poor are about people like widows and orphans, unable to work.\u00a0 Jesus doesn\u2019t call out the Roman Empire for its lack of a Universal Basic Income.\u00a0 Neither he nor the Old Testament prophets condemn those who impose work requirements on their charity. Etc.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s Paul, in 2nd Thessalonians:<\/p>\n
In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yes, this has been abused.\u00a0 Big time.\u00a0 And a quick google search to turn up commentary is made difficulty by its use by Lenin, for instance.\u00a0 But an answer-er at Quora<\/a> observes that the Didache, the earliest non-Biblical Christian teaching document, says something similar:<\/p>\nIf it is a traveler who arrives, help him all you can. But he must not stay with you more than two days, or, if necessary, three. If he wants to settle with you and is an artisan, he must work for his living. If, however, he has no trade, use your judgment in taking steps for him to live with you as a Christian without being idle. If he refuses to do this, he is trading on Christ. You must be on your guard against such people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So, no, I don\u2019t think it is un-Christian to say that everyone being helped by society (=the government) has a responsibility, to the extent that person is able, to make some productive contribution to the world, rather than having a right to have their basic material needs met without any effort on their part.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday\u2019s post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my twitter followers, who herself has far more followers, replied to it, and it started circulating among a more progressive\/woke crowd than is usually the case. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[364,1383,240],"class_list":["post-16248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-basic-income","tag-charity","tag-food-stamps"],"yoast_head":"\n
". . . neither shall he eat" -- more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday's post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"". . . neither shall he eat" -- more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday's post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-06T15:21:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-06T18:28:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2016\/01\/5489717927_d4a8181f6f_b.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html\",\"name\":\"\\\". . . neither shall he eat\\\" -- more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-06T15:21:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-06T18:28:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday's post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“. . . neither shall he eat” — more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\". . . neither shall he eat\" -- more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work","description":"So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday's post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\". . . neither shall he eat\" -- more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work","og_description":"So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday's post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2019-12-06T15:21:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-12-06T18:28:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2016\/01\/5489717927_d4a8181f6f_b.jpg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html","name":"\". . . neither shall he eat\" -- more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-12-06T15:21:53+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-06T18:28:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday's post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/12\/neither-shall-he-eat-more-on-food-stamps-snap-and-work.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“. . . neither shall he eat” — more on Food Stamps\/SNAP and work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2016\/01\/5489717927_d4a8181f6f_b.jpg\")